The candidate, R. Sean Morrison, MD, is currently the Hermann Merkin Professor of Palliative Care, Professor of Geriatrics and Medicine, and Vice-Chair for Research in the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM). This renewal application is directed at continuing his patient-oriented research (POR) in aging and palliative care (PC). Dr. Morrison's initial K24, was awarded in 2003. Dr. Morrison is committed to expanding the field of palliative care and aging research and has made mentoring of junior faculty and fellows a priority in his career. Since completing fellowship training, Dr. Morrison has served as the primary mentor for 11 junior faculty, 8 fellows, and 6 medical students. All of Dr, Morrison's primary mentees have presented their research at national meetings, 5 have written text-book chapters with Dr. Morrison, and 18 have first author publications in peer-reviewed journals with Dr. Morrison. All of Dr. Morrison's faculty mentees have successfully competed for foundation or federal funding to support their research. Dr. Morrison's overall career objective is to improve care for seriously ill older adults by promoting the development of PC research in the U.S. In the short term, Dr. Morrison plans to use the K24 award to: 1) facilitate the transition of his current faculty mentees to research independence;2) increase the opportunities for fellows and junior faculty from different disciplines (e.g., oncology, geriatrics, pulmonary medicine) to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for careers in POR through work on larger funded projects and through development of their own research;3) study the effectiveness of interventions to improve pain and symptom management in older adults;and 4) continue to build a strong and sustainable research program in patient oriented research in PC and aging. Dr. Morrison's long-term objectives are to: 1) build a successful career conducting high quality POR in PC and aging;2) train and develop a new generation of clinical investigators to conduct this research both at MSSM and across the U. S.;and 3) through the development of rigorous PC research, improve the medical care of older adults living with serious and advanced illness. This application proposes a comprehensive mentoring program built upon 3 large multi-site studies in POR that will serve as learning platforms and sources of research data for his current and future mentees.